mettevsmettesConfusable pair

Quick tell: mette is a verb, mettes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mette” is a verb and “mettes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,111
“mette” frequency rank
#34,626
“mettes” frequency rank
40737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mette mettes
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de mettre. Pluriel de mette.

Same sound, different letters: mette vs mettes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. mette runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against mettes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mette
6 ch
mettes

Same sound, different spelling - mette / mettes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: mette and mettes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \mɛt\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mette” sits inside “mettes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mette is recorded at frequency rank #6,111, classified as averb, pronounced \mɛt\. mettes is at rank #34,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɛt\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 40737, this pair ranks #238,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mette vs mettes

Shared letters: emt. Private to "mette": -. Private to "mettes": s.

"mette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mette ← emtte · mete · metet · mmette · mtete
  • mettes ← emttes · metes · metets · mettess · mettse · mmettes · mtetes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mette" and "mettes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mette" is a verb and "mettes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mette" or "mettes"?
"mette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,111 in our French list, against #34,626 for "mettes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #238,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mette" and "mettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mettes vs muettes". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #238,261 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list